Four locals win national title with SoCal Blues 15U club soccer team

No one is perfect, but Greg Baker has been about as close as one can come in his coaching endeavors this year.

In the winter, he oversaw a San Juan Capistrano JSerra High girls’ soccer team that went 22-1-3 to win the CIF Southern Section Division 1 and the CIF State Southern California Regional Division I titles.

Another season ended today, and his SoCal Blues 15U team has completed an undefeated campaign.

Four locals helped shepherd the SoCal Blues 15U club to the Elite Clubs National League national championship. They beat Solar Chelsea SC of Dallas, 7-2, on Saturday morning at Surf Cup Sports Park in Del Mar to cap the sensational run.

The Blues went 32-0 en route to winning the title.

Laguna Beach forward Reilyn Turner had a hat-trick, and Corona del Mar forward Trinity Rodman also put two goals in the back of the net.

The final was a rematch of last year’s title game, which the Blues lost.

“We lost in double overtime in the national championship in Texas, in their home state, in front of their home crowd,” Baker recalled. “That was the last time that this team had lost, so they have gone full circle since then, winning a Surf Cup, a Blues Cup, a conference championship, and going undefeated all the way to the end.”

Baker said that the final was composed of the two most offensively explosive teams in the country. It was the Blues that drew first blood, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes.

Rodman returned from a foot injury, which caused her to miss the semifinals, after she sustained it in the team’s practice on Wednesday. That allowed the team to hone in on defense, as creating turnovers would naturally lead to scoring opportunities.

That is where the other locals came into play. Corona del Mar’s Megan Chelf and Newport Beach resident Lily Shea (Mater Dei) are backs on the team. Baker called defense the key to the team’s success.

“If you defend well, you can steal the ball in more opportune areas of the field,” Baker said. “From there, we’re pretty stellar on the counterattack.

“For us, we always stress defending. When we do defend well as a team, inevitably, we find ourselves in key spots on the field.”

Instead of sticking with a particular age group, Baker and his girls will rise through the age ranks together until the players head off to college. That has the team considering the possibility of a Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball type of run.

“That’s exactly what you’re going for,” Baker said. “A lot of the girls did this a year ago, as well. It’s been one heck of a run for a couple of years now. If we can double that, we’ll get them to college with maybe one of the best records ever.”

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner